GBIF and the Biodiversity Informatics Landscape

Donald HobernGBIF DirectorGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)

London, 24 July 2013

Vision - a world in which:

Biodiversity information is freely and universally available for science, society and a sustainable future

Origins and principles

Established in 2001Response to OECD recommendation Open to all countries Voluntary memorandum of understanding (MoU)

GBIF Participation

GBIF Participation

Last updated: 2013-01-03

58 countries (38 voting and 20 associate)46 international organisations

12 years – 405 million records

New portal – October 2013

Weaknesses with distributed data

Id: CURC-00015436Species: Acalles dubiusLocation: Berlin, GermanyLatitude: 13.41Longitude: 52.52

Id: CURC-00015436Species: Acalles dubiusSpecies: Acalles camelusLocation: Berlin, GermanyLatitude: 13.41Longitude: 52.52

Curator Taxonomist

ReidentifiesDigitises

Id: CURC-00015436Species: Acalles dubiusLocation: Berlin, GermanyLatitude: 13.41Longitude: 52.52

DistributionModeller

Uses

Id: CURC-00015436Species: Acalles dubiusLocation: Berlin, GermanyLatitude: 13.41Longitude: 52.52

EnvironmentAgency

Rejects

x

Id: CURC-00015436Species: Acalles dubiusLocation: Berlin, GermanyLatitude: 13.41 52.52Longitude: 52.52 13.41

Climate Change

Researcher

Corrects

Toward a shared knowledgebase

Curator Taxonomist

Reidentifies

Digitises

DistributionModeller

Uses

EnvironmentAgency

Flags issueClimate Change

Researcher

Corrects

Id: CURC-00015436Version: 1Species: Acalles dubiusLocation: Berlin, GermanyLatitude: 13.41Longitude: 52.52

Global Biodiversity Knowledgebase

Id: CURC-00015436Version: 2Species: Acalles dubiusLocation: Berlin, GermanyLatitude: 13.41Longitude: 52.52Issue detected: Locality

Id: CURC-00015436Version: 3Species: Acalles dubiusLocation: Berlin, GermanyLatitude: 52.52Longitude: 13.41

Id: CURC-00015436Version: 4Species: Acalles camelusLocation: Berlin, GermanyLatitude: 52.52Longitude: 13.41

Technician Photographer

Id: CURC-00015436Version: 6Species: Acalles camelusLocation: Berlin, GermanyLatitude: 52.52Longitude: 13.41Sequence: ATTGCA...Image: 15436.jpg

ImagesSequences Distribution modelAcalles camelus

Id: CURC-00015436Version: 6Species: Acalles camelusLocation: Berlin, GermanyLatitude: 52.52Longitude: 13.41Sequence: ATTGCA...Image: 15436.jpg

Uses

Publishesmodel

So what is needed?

• Data standards• Persistent storage• Culture of open reuse• Collaborative curation• Mobilising all primary data• Interpretation of primary data

Persistent storage

• Long-term data management• Stable data identifiers and citation• Data replication

Culture of open reuse

Collaborative curation

Collaborative curation

Building the knowledgebase

e-Infrastructure(services and culture to support data reuse)

Organised Data(specific views and indexes of data)

Models(best estimates of reality)

Primary Data(all streams of biodiversity data)

Assessments and Indicators

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Thank you

Donald Hobern, dhobern@gbif.org GBIF DirectorGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)

London, 24 July 2013

Parallels with climate data

https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/vast-machine

Knowledge today is easily lost

Hexadactilia trilobata, Sulawesi Image copyright Richard Seaman

Second known individual

Only live photo for genus

Ochyrotica taiwanica, Taipei City, 30 Jan 2011. Image copyright http://www.flickr.com/people/cchsieh/

• How do we connect experts with such observations?